Children
by Painting the Roses Blue
Summary: Shock and Lock are fighting again and Barrel is fed up with them and their childish arguments.  Short Barrel-centric one-shot.  Slight OOC.  Rated T because I'm paranoid.


**T**h_e_ **D**_e_v_i_ls **W**_ea_r **C**_o_nv_e_rs_e_

**A/N: I wrote this originally when I was talking to my friend about Barrel being a third-wheel (Lock/Shock fan) and she told me to just start writing a Lock/Shock story if I was that bothered. So I began to write one. And it ended up a Barrel one-shot. XD Irony loves me. Probably OOCness but I haven't seen "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in YEARS so I have an excuse. Dunno why, but I imagine Lock and Shock would continue to argue and fight, even as young adults, I'm not saying they're in an abusive relationship or anything but I just think they'll argue a lot. Bleh, this was just clogging up my computer and I would appreciate feedback. It's short but I like it.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own "The Nightmare Before Christmas" or any of its characters.**

**Mommy (Shock) and Daddy (Lock) are fighting again :/ Sorry if the situation seems cliché or just bad in general, my parents don't argue/fight often (the last time they did my dad broke a door on a drawer though but that was like two years ago) so I don't have any personal experience.**

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><p>Barrel put his hands over his ears, desperately trying in vain to ignore the yelling.<p>

Lock and Shock were fighting again. And here he thought that they'd promised to be a family again. Whatever happened to "three of a kind, birds of a feather, now and forever"? "Forever" must have shortened in their minds.

"SHOCK! GET BACK HERE!"

Shock slammed her bedroom door in Lock's face and he growled in irritation, slamming his clenched fist against the wood, creating new splits in the already cracked solid object.

"What happened now?"

Lock glanced at the youngest of the Boogie Boys. Barrel was looking curious, small and slightly afraid, clutching onto his black-and-orange lollipop.

The elder boy's anger immediately vanished. He glared once more at Shock's door but walked with Barrel back to the main living room, the den.

"Nothing," Lock spat, "just a friendly disagreement."

"That didn't sound friendly."

The devil child (well, young adult now)'s tail flicked, he was agitated and he didn't want to start arguing with Barrel too.

"It's nothing," Lock assured him. "We just . . . we had another argument. It's nothing to worry about, it happens all the time, we're just joking, we don't really mean it. It's just like when we were kids."

Barrel's eyes flashed slightly in anger. He wasn't an idiot or a child; he didn't need to be coddled. Yet he knew that Lock was only trying to make him feel better, by _lying _to him.

He shrugged and decided to play ignorant. He gave Lock a small smile and left their home, deciding to take walk in their precious Town of Halloween.

People glanced at him suspiciously as he passed. If he were with Lock and Shock they would be calling Jack Skellington and the Mayor to let them know that the three were up to something. They had hardly ever seen any of the Boogie Boys alone (if ever) and now Barrel, the youngest though certainly roundest of the lot, was walking in the middle of town, aiming towards the Town Hall, though he seemed like he didn't even know where he was walking.

He almost looked like he was in a trance.

He snapped out of his stupor when he bumped into another skeleton's long legs. He looked up to see the face of the smiling (or maybe he was grimacing) Pumpkin King.

"Jack . . . I'm, uh, sorry."

That's when everyone realised something was wrong. Why would any of the Boogie Boys apologise? With peers (or "family" as they called each other) like Lock and Shock, who could blame the kid for growing up bad but they stopped feeling sorry for him when he started leading Shock and Lock into the same kind of trouble, pulling pranks that the devil and witch would have never dared try otherwise.

"Are you okay, Barrel?"

"Yes." It was an obvious lie but Barrel didn't care how fake he sounded. He just stepped aside and walked at an incredibly fast pace towards Spiral Hill, feeling slightly ashamed of himself for getting upset over something as small as his friends arguing.

"Barrel . . ."

Barrel turned at the sound of the honey-like voice. Sally was standing not far behind him, looking sympathetic.

"What's wrong? Please, there's no reason to lie. If you don't want to tell me then don't. But why aren't you with Lock and Shock? Why did you apologise? Are you ill or—"

"Not ill," Barrel muttered stiffly. "It's just that Lock and Shock are fighting again."

"'Again'?"

Barrel nodded. Sally sat down next to him, not saying anything else. Barrel didn't need reminded of the fact his friends seemed to hate each other all the time and when they didn't they always told him that he had to leave the room because they would be discussing "adult things". He was two years younger than Shock and three behind Lock, that didn't make them adults and him a child.

And until _they_ stopped acting like children to each other, he was just not going to put up with it.


End file.
